Chapter 9 : The Bad Buys
"How do you know so much about shooting anyway ?"
The three mammals are walking away from the reservoir while pushing their bikes. "Erh… Da taught me." He answers.
"Must've been nice." She says. "Given how many siblings I have, and the amount of farmwork we have to do, he barely ha time to allow us individually. I wish my dad would spend that kind of time with-"
She gets interrupted by the discreet tap to her shoulder Travis gives her. She turns to him to protest, but see him silently shake his head. "Last to Gideon's home has to make the cake !" He suddenly grins, before hopping on his bike and starting to pedal like a possessed mammal.
Judy imitates him and shoots a glance to Gideon behind her. She realises that he isn't going all out, though he is trying to keep up with them. Then she see notices that Travis isn't going at full speed either. It's easy for her to deduce that this was a distraction. She's starting to seriously suspect things, and an uncomfortable feeling settles itself in her stomach.
- 1 -
Tree bikes have been parked in the little garden in the front the tod's house. Judy remembers that when they were children, they would always try to avoid that street. Some kids had started a rumour about the house being cursed, its curtains shutters always pulled, the garden abandoned, with weed invading its porch. It had an aura of danger and anger, something that it now lacks, despite the chipped paint and badly repaired windows.
"Don't talk too loud, Hailey might be sleepin'." He states, before opening the door. The inside of the house is in a better state than the outside. Of course, the walls could use a new coat of paint, and the wooden floor is creaky, but otherwise, it's clean and homely.
The portly tod guides them to the living room where his mother is sewing damaged overalls while her daughter is playing with cubes and bright coloured toys on a blanket. Somehow, his mother and him look like his exact opposite. She's thin, graceful, a bit taller than he is. The only thing in common they seem to have is the deep blue colour of their eyes. "Oh, Gid ! I didn't think you'd come back that early."
"Well… I needed to finish the cake." He explains. "This is Judy. Judy, this is my mom… Willa." It feels weird to say her name, but the bunny can't really call her "Gideon's mom."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs Grey."
"Nice to meetcha too Judy. And please call me Willa." She smiles widely. "Thank ya for takin' such good care of me kit." The vixen add, ruffling her son hair who flushes, not really comfortable being the target of her affection in front of his friends. "Is this a new bag ?" She asks, noticing it in her son's paw.
"Judy's birthday gift." Gideon explains.
"I hope ya said thanks."
"Of course I did." He answers in annoyed tone. "I really gotta go make that cake." He shoots and odd gaze to Judy and his mother, before pulling Travis by the arm. "Come give me a paw."
"Can't I help ?" The bunny asks.
"Erh, the kitchen's a bit small. Maybe you could, erh… Set up the table with Ma ?" There seem to be some sort underlying meaning to his sentence, but the bunny can't really place it.
The two males exit the room, leaving Judy with Willa and Hailey, the former picking up the latter from the floor. "Have ya met Gideon's little sister ?"
"Oh my gosh, she's so cute !" Reacts the bunny, reaching to scratch her cheek. The kit turns her head and coos, before trying to nibble on the bunny's thumb. "Ow ! Sharp !" She reacts, pulling her fingers away.
"Sorry. She's at that age when everyt'in she can grab gets into her mouth. Did she hurt ya ?"
She gives it a look, but her thumb isn't bleeding. "I'm fine."
Willa gently puts Hailey back down, and the smaller vixen gets back to her playing. The elder one scratches her arm awkwardly, looking for her words. "I wanted to say… Thank ya. Really."
"I'm just helping him study."
The vulpine giggles. "That'all ya really think yer doin' ? He talks about you all the time. 'Judy told me this', 'Judy showed me how to use that theorem', 'Judy stood up for me'. Yer really important to him, you do realise that ?"
The bunny scratches the back of her head as she blushes, feeling self-conscious. "Well, I guess I am really helping him. He's making progress."
"He started likin' school. He never did before, but it's the first year I don't actually have to pull him out of his bed. Fer a long time, I was really afraid he'd end up like… He'd take a wrong path. I can barely take a week end off wid' work, I barely have 'nough time for Hailey… And sometimes, I feel like he needs me more'n she does…" She trails off, glancing toward the kitchen. "I ain't been a real good mom to him."
"Mrs G- Willa, I'm sure he doesn't think that."
She aims a contrite look at the bunny. "Doesn't make it less true. I've done lotsa poor choices throughout my life and his childhood. I know he might not think that… But I had a paw in what he went through. If had been stronger, maybe-"
"Cake's ready !" Cuts Gideon's voice as he enters the room with a small cake. He doesn't seem to have noticed the heavy atmosphere of the living room, or he's pretending not to. Either way, he sets down the pink colored cake, with unevenly cut and placed strawberries on top, on the table. "There aren't any solid bits, so even Hailey could have a slice." He adds.
Producing a knife, he cuts four equal slices and a fifth smaller one, placing them on the plates Travis brought.
The cake is layered with red berry pastry cream and sponge cake. And, in Judy's opinion, it's amazing. Admittedly, she ate more pie than cakes, as they were quicker and cheaper to make. And though she knows her mother can handle making the dough quite fine, she rarely had the time to do it properly. Too much kids to handle, to much chores to coordinate.
"Did you make the cream yourself ?" Judy asks.
"He did everytin' himself." Willa chimes in, while wiping Hailey's snout with a napkin. "Didn't even have a paw in the ingredient's choosin'."
"Woah. Since when do you do that kind of stuff ?"
"Erh… Since before the pie. I just… I think it's fun."
"Well, if you ever want to test your baking with someone, I volunteer." Judy smiles.
"Yeah me too. Seriously dude. That shit's amazin'."
"Travis, language." Scolds Willa in a conversational tone.
"Sorry. Can I have another slice ?"
- 2 -
Judy and Travis are riding home side by side. The weasel seems to be thinking intensely about something, and opens his mouth a few times.
"What is it ?" Judy finally asks.
"I… Don't like you." The weasel blurts.
"I'm sorry ?"
"I mean, I don't hate you. I just don't like you." He shrugs, before going a little faster.
"Could you at least elaborate ?" She asks, catching up to him.
"I don't like that you're acting like nothing's ever happened between us three. It's weird. I mean, we were shit to each other, and suddenly Gid and you are best pals, and I don't know what your game is, but it irks me."
Judy suddenly brakes, which forces the weasel to imitate her to hear her answer. "I'm not playing a game."
"So you just happened to decide 'hey, what if I tutored that guy that used to bully me and my friends and to who I ain't talked in a year ?'. Sorry, ain't a book I aim to buy."
The bunny groans. Of course she was stupid to think there wasn't going to have some bad blood remaining between the two of them. "Mrs Catmull, my career counsellor made me- No, she strongly advised that I found some extra-curricular to do. She suggested tutoring, I didn't know it was for him until I accepted."
"And if ya'd known it was for him ?"
"I would probably have refused." The bunny admits somewhat shamefully.
Travis stares at her, before rolling his eyes. "Fuck, I can't even fault ya for bein' dishonest."
"Why would you want to fault me ?"
"Oh, I don't know. We've been shit to eachother for years, and ya'll go 180. I'm bein' wary about it. Sue me."
"You said 'we've been shit to eachother' twice now but I don't see why any of it was my fault."
She doesn't know what to make of the look the weasel gives her. It's not threatening, but it still feels cold.
"What do you think of us… Of weasels."
"Erh…" The bunny hesitates.
"Come on. Go ahead. I won't get mad. Can't be worse than everythin' I heard since I was little. What's the first thing you think when someone says weasel ?"
What does she think… She wants to say nothing. She isn't biased. But that would be a lie wouldn't it ? Still, she still can't say it. Not to his face.
"Cheaters, thiefs, cowards." He enumerates. "Shifty, cunning, sneaky, scheming… I doubt I got 'em all, but was I wrong on any of 'em ?"
"No." The bunny answers in a small voice.
"Of course not. You can tell yer 'rents thanks about that." The weasel snorts. "When yer whole school thinks they should stay away from ya or shuns ya, you figure that if yer already gettin' shit on, might as well create a reason to be. Of course, ya get in trouble, ya get beaten up, but hey, tha's the game, innit ? Then ya meet someone like ya, that no one trusts, and one wants to talk to. But ya also realise that they fear him. He doesn't get tripped, or get his tail pulled, and ya think 'shit, I wanna be big an' strong like him' So ya follow him 'round, be his lookout, shit like that… At some point, ya realise yer better at comin' up with ideas than he's so ya become the brain. Then, everyone still hates ya… But it's different now, 'cuz now they don't dare do shit to you."
"So what ? It's our fault you were bullies ?" She asks heatedly as Travis chuckles.
"Would make it so much easier if it was. But it ain't. We did treat you wrong, more than you did us I reckon. But we didn't deserve all 'dat we got. So yeah, wanna know why I don't like ya ? Ya think yer perfect and righteous, but ya ain't. Everything was always our fault. In fact, if ya wanted to get away with doin' anything, all ya needed to do was make sure we were in the vicinity when it went down, and accuse us of it. And that happened a fuckin' lot."
She shoots him a dubious glance, to which he answers with a shrug. "I don't give a crap if ya don't believe me. Just tellin' it as it is… In the spirit of that, ya need to know : If I was him, I'd have told ya to fuck off a long time ago. But I know he only blames himself for everything that happened. Can't really see the bigger picture. Plus he likes ya. He's workin' his ass off, and that might get him somewhere. I ain't gonna shit on that."
"I… I never looked at it this way."
He gives her an indulgent smile. "Of course ya haven't. Why would ya ? Easier to think we were the bad guys. But now, he isn't, so ya treat him right okay ? He's a bit dumb, but he's a great guy when he puts in the effort."
"Yeah… I guess he is. I can't talk for the others, but I'm sorry if I was unfair to you both. Maybe I should go apologize to him too." She finishes in a mutter, turning back.
"Nah. Maybe he'll figure it out, maybe he won't. I ain't sure it's a good idea to tell him how the world is even less fair that he thinks yet."
The bunny has to agree with him. Gideon has enough on his plate as it is. She doesn't need to add to it. "You know, you're more clever than I thought."
"Why d'ya think I dropped out of highschool ?" He grins back. "Figured I had better things to do with my life."